The Huntress
by QwertyWords
Summary: Nicole is learning to survive. In this world there is no living, merely existing and that's exactly what she's trying to do. But what happens when she meets the one person that might just remind her what it is to feel alive? Watch how Nicole interacts with the group and how they struggle along through this new world together. Relationships are tested and families change.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

Apparently, it started off as a small news story about a single, isolated case of a mutated strain of rabies in a human. Barely any attention was drawn to it as there were more pressing stories in the media to worry about. Stock markets rising and falling; the latest celebrity scandal and sports teams rising to victory. Not many people even remember the initial report. I certainly didn't. To me, it was like it all happened at once.

Seven months after my father's passing, I had finally built up the courage to visit the now empty house. It was a modest home. Working in the county sheriff's department had allowed my parents to earn enough money to put down roots in Georgia. A year after they married and moved in, I came along and by the time I was in first grade, my mom had retrained as a teacher. My only memories of her were from the framed photos around the house and discoloured home movies. I'd watched them so much I could practically remember them down to the pixel. My favourite being her singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' to me at my 6th birthday. Four months before she died. My six-year-old self couldn't take my eyes off of her. The framing was too tight and the lighting was less than perfect but she couldn't have been more beautiful. Her voice effortlessly hitting all the notes and rendering everyone else silent as she sang directly to me. She didn't look sick at all. When I was younger and feeling lonely I would watch and rewatch the video – insisting we kept the VCR long after VCRs were rendered a thing of the past. After she died everything changed. My step-sister from my mom's first marriage stopped coming over for dinners, then stopped coming over for Christmas's, then birthday's and then all together. By the time I was off to college I hadn't seen Melissa in over 3 years. Growing up it was just me and my Dad. He never remarried after Mom, insisting that she was his one and only true love.

The house was full of our memories together and I couldn't face sorting my Pa's things alone, so I called his old partner to help. Scott Parkinson was a no-nonsense man. At almost 55 years old, his 6ft stature and broad shoulders meant he looked intimidating to everyone but I knew deep down he was as gentle and loving as my dad. They had gone through the police ranks together and both shaped me into the woman I was today. Sorting out the house looked to be a four-day job so we both stayed there each night to get an early start the following morning. The third day was when It all changed.

I could tell something was wrong when Scott yelled for me to come downstairs as I was boxing up my Dad's clothes to donate. As soon as I entered the room I could see the words 'breaking news' in bold red letters across the TV screen. Clips of the infected were shown on the news with the simple message playing over the top: Evacuate. In a blur, I was packing up my clothes and getting ready to head to Atlanta. From what I had heard on the announcement there was some sort of safety zone in the city with limited places. I grabbed the largest backpack I could find and stuffed it full of clothes and a few small toiletries. I changed into some blue ripped skinny jeans and a black vest then tied my red flannel shirt around my waist and put my hair into a pony tail. I could hear Scott hurrying me from downstairs, so I laced up my hiking boots and quickly walked to my father's room. I didn't have time to stand in the doorway, hesitant to go in, as I had done the past two days. I bee-lined straight for his closet and pulled out his thick, black hunting jacket. It still smelt like him. With no time to get emotional, I walked over to his bedside dresser and opened the top drawer to reveal a small gun safe. After all his years in law enforcement he couldn't sleep without his gun right next to him. I wasn't too sure whether I should take it or not but based on the videos playing on the TV it seemed necessary. I took everything there: two Smith & Wesson guns, enough rounds to last a couple of weeks, a holster and a silencer. The last thing I took from his room was the photo of mom, dad and I taken on my 6thbirthday which sat atop the dresser. I grabbed my bag and ran down the stairs to meet Scott.

He had filled the back of his truck with some camping equipment, a small first aid kit, his belongings and seemingly all the food in the house. I followed him to the truck, switching off all the lights as I went.

"Ready?" Scott said in a gruff voice. I nodded, too choked up at the thought of leaving the house I grew up in to speak. He sat down in the driver's side as I locked the door and followed him into the truck. I kept staring at the house for as long as I could see it as we headed towards Atlanta.

I don't know how long it was that we were driving for until we hit traffic. It was completely unmoving and lots of people were outside of their vehicles talking to one another and speculating at what was causing all these delays. Scott stepped out of the truck and asked around at what was happening. I rolled down the windows to hear what was going on.

"Sherriff!" Scott exclaimed, causing me to look up. A man in a blue shirt with a small badge printed on the chest looked up in response. The woman in pink behind him looked up too – presumably his wife. "What's goin' on up ahead?"

"Sorry mister, I'm not an officer at the moment. Just looking to keep my family safe," he responded, dismissing Scott.

"I was an officer back in the day. Need any help? Once in the force, always in the force in my book. That makes you as good as family to me."

The man looked hesitant and shared a knowing glance with his wife before walking over to Scott and whispering something in his ear. Scott's face went a ghostly white. He returned to the truck and immediately started to back up and out of the traffic. I noticed a few surrounding cars doing the same. He seemed far too focused to interrupt and I didn't know if I wanted to know whatever Scott had just learned. The Sherriff too got into his car, with his wife and son. A handful of cars, including us, started following the officer away from Atlanta causing a sinking feeling in my stomach. We drove for about 20 minutes before reaching a clearing.

It was pitch black at this point with only headlights to illuminate the way. Everyone parked up and people started to get out of the cars. The officer called everyone over to explain the situation.

"Er'ryone... I don't know quite how to tell y'all this but up ahead. We saw it. Me and Lori saw it all happen." The woman in pink slightly nodded her head as she stood next to the man. "They bombed it. Atlanta. Choppers flew over-head and burned Atlanta to the ground. Now I don't know what's going on or what's to come, but I can say with all the certainty in the world that this shit is way worse than we know…"

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

Shane was right. This shit was significantly worse than any of us could have imagined. Walkers ruled the city and there was nothing we could do about it. We held up in the quarry and formed a nice little camp. There were over thirty of us – even some families with kids. A routine started to form after a few days. Women mainly tending to the cooking and cleaning while the men took care of protecting everyone and collecting supplies. I took odd jobs here and there and mainly accompanied Glenn on runs into Atlanta. I was small and fast and the only person with a silencer. Glenn was a bit younger than me but we got along plenty. I would often sit with him for meals and set up my tent between him, Scott and the Dixon brothers on the edge of camp.

I went hunting a handful of times with the brothers but Merle couldn't stop running his mouth. Daryl and I seemed to have an unspoken mutual respect for one another. We didn't talk much but I saw him with his crossbow and he saw me with my gun. You don't grow up in a cop's house without learning to shoot and shoot well. On one of the runs I had been on, I had found a worn in but useable bow. In private I was trying to teach myself how to use it. I could hit my targets dead on… Providing that my targets were three feet away. I would always rely on my guns to keep me safe but the end of the world gives you lots of spare time and everyone needs a hobby.

On occasion I would watch over the kids during their 'schooling' hours. I'd always been pretty good at maths so every now and then Carol or Lori would ask me to help out. I didn't quite understand why they were making their kids learn their times tables instead of learning to start a fire or other useful survival skills – but who was I to tell them how to parent. I would also help the women with keeping the camp clean and laundry. There was plenty to go around but God forbid any of the macho men washed a shirt. I got on best with Andrea who, like me, favoured the more typically masculine jobs. She would join Glenn and I on runs every now and then which only made us closer.

I spent a lot of time with Dale and Scott, both of whom seemed to be on permanent watch. I may not enjoy their conversations about fishing or literature but it sure beat sitting around people constantly talking about their lives before the outbreak. I was resigned to the fact that the old way of life was over – no point dwelling on it for too long. I lost count of how many days it had been. Too many as far as I was concerned.

Today we were off on another run. It was a far larger group than I was used to but we needed a lot of supplies. Everyone's stock had been dwindling for quite a while and we were starting to get desperate. Joining Glenn and I was Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, Morales and much to everyone's annoyance, Merle. I had learnt to not respond to his comments thereby making me a boring target for his constant string of remarks. Andrea seemed to be his prime target today. I lead the group along the route Glenn and I always used while he followed up at the back. For whatever reason, there seemed to be far fewer walkers around today than normal. After making our first stop to pick up anything that was left in the pharmacy, we moved on to the department store. I started throwing things on the list into my bag; spare socks, hair ties, belts. Glenn went to the window to check our route to the hardware store was clear.

"Um. Guys…?"

Everyone turned to face Glenn and we followed his gaze out to the road. The normally quite street was manic. Walkers crawling on top of one another to reach the tank.

"There was a guy out there. Like, a living guy. He just crawled into that tank – throw me the radio."

None of us saw this mysterious man and it looked pretty unlikely that any living person was out there and still alive. Nevertheless, Jacqui complied and passed the radio to Glenn. He quickly changed the dial and spoke.

"Hey you." Silence followed. "Dumbass." More silence. "Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there?"

All the walkers had started to move towards what looked like the remains of a horse and off the tank. Only leaving a few still scratching at the metal.

"Hey, you alive in there?"

"Dude, ain't nobody-" T-Dog was cut off when the most unlikely of things happened.

"Hello! Hello?" The static on the radio was loud but the unmistakable sound of a man's voice came through. "Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" The panic was evident in his tone. As Glenn continued to talk to him I went back to quickly collecting things from the store.

"Guys," I say, pulling everyone's focus from the radio, "Let's grab our stuff first so we can help."

Everyone spread out across the floor searching for anything worthwhile.

"Nicole – cover me. Everyone else get ready. This is gonna' attract attention." At the sound of my name I threw my bag to Andrea and pulled my gun from its holster. We climbed our way to the neighbouring building where I waited on the roof and Glenn, despite my disapproval, started to climb down the ladder. About half way down the second set, gun shots started ringing through the air.

"Well shit." I mumbled to myself. Walkers started to pour out of every street in Glenn's direction. I cocked my gun and took precautionary aim. The lunatic with the itchy trigger finger approached the alley where Glenn was and they started to climb. When I knew they were safe I started to look around. Geeks were everywhere.

I started to descend back to where the others were based and grabbed the radio from my pocket. By the time I had worked out how to change the frequency back to our radio, Glenn and the guy in the Sherriff's outfit had joined me.

"We're back, with a guest, plus four geeks in the alley."

In response, Morales and T-Dog came out in full riot gear and beat the walkers that had managed to enter the alley. As soon as we were through the door Andrea's gun was in the new guy's face. Her eyes were manic and her faced flushed. Morales diffused the situation as if sorting out a fight between his kids. When we returned to the doors of the store there were geeks, three layers deep pressing against the now cracking glass.

"What the hell were you doin' out there anyway?" Andrea asked.

"Trying to find the helicopter."

"Helicopter?" I asked.

"Man that's crap. Ain't no helicopter." T-Dog stated.

"I saw it."

It was at that point I noticed Merle was missing. As if on cue, shots rang from the roof and we all collectively sighed and started to run.

He was standing there, bold as anything, shooting rounds into the streets at the walkers down below. He looked wired and unpredictable. T-Dog and Morales immediately started yelling for him to stop. Merle started to bait the men and as soon as the racial slurs started to fly, so did the punches. I pulled my gun from my belt and held it by my side. Merle had T-Dog pinned with a gun to his face with everyone staring at him in silence. T-Dog had blood dripping from his nose and by the looks of it, Morales had been winded. I was behind Merle waiting for my chance. He spat on T-Dog and began to stand up and speak.

"Yeah! All right! We gon' have ourselves a little pow-wow. Huh? Talk about who's in charge."

At this moment I crept up behind him and pressed the barrel of my gun to his head.

"And who do you think that is Merle? Huh?" I tried to sound as forceful as I could but the looks from my group showed none of them had much confidence in me. "Think it's about time you showed us all some southern hospitality."

"Damn girlie. It's always the quiet ones ain't it?" He slowly turned to face me and raised his hands. "I vote me for leader. Come on, showa' hands. Democracy time y'all."

I rolled my eyes at his attempt at humour. Glenn and Jacqui knelt to help T-Dog while Andrea and Morales stared back at us.

"Anybody else? Huh? That mean I'm the boss?" At his growing confidence I pressed my gun further into his head to remind him of his current situation. Un-phased he continued, "All in favour? Anybody else? Anybody?"

"Yeah."

The sound of metal hitting man rang in my ears, the base of the gun barely missing me as Merle toppled to the floor. Within seconds Merle has been handcuffed to a fixture on the roof.

"Who the hell are you man?"

"Officer friendly," He said menacingly. Officer friendly knocked everything from out of Merle's reach before continuing, "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no 'niggers' anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you man"

"I can see you make it a habit of missing the point." I chuckled under my breath. That was an understatement.

"Yeah? Well screw you twice."

Rick coked his gun against Merles temple and muttered something only Merle could hear. Officer Friendly patted Merle down and found a bag of white powder. We all rolled our eyes as Merle started screaming incoherently after the newcomer threw the powder off the edge of the building.

Once T-Dog had sat up, with help, he began working on the radio in an attempt to contact the camp. Probably wasn't much they could do but we were up shit creek without a paddle. The combined noise of Merle screaming and the collection of geeks below had attracted even more.

"How's that signal coming?" I ask as I sit beside T.

"Like Dixon's brain. Weak." Merle flipped us off while Morales told us to keep trying.

"Why?" Andrea questioned, clearly frustrated. "There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing."

I focused on the pitch of the radio as it changed. Hoping that the others would pick up our signal. Merle, clearly bored without his target practice, began to proposition Andrea.

"Hey, Honeybun, what say you get me out of these cuffs; we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna' die anyway."

"I'd rather." She responded, without missing a beat.

"Rug muncher. I figured as much."

Morales and Officer Friendly started to plan their escape routes. It looked like everyone was heading to the basement to try and find a drainage tunnel into the sewers. I stayed up with T and Merle and my gun. As a tension diffuser should there need to be one.

Static was the only sound. Merle had started to whine and groan, presumably to get our attention. It was as if he ceased to exist unless he was causing irritation to someone. I moved further against the wall in an attempt to sit in the little shade it provided. I almost felt bad for Merle out in the open sun. As the static momentarily stopped T-Dog spoke into the radio.

"Anybody out there? Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice 'cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us. Why don't you knock that crap off? You're giving me a headache, boy."

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass? Maybe your headache will go away?"

I could feel tensions rising between the two.

"Now, now boys. Do I need to call a time out for the two of you?" Merle chuckled in response and T-Dog took a calming breath.

"Try some positivity for a change, damn." It was hard to agree with T while I was sat in the blistering heat stuck between their squabbling.

"I'll tell you what. You get me out of these cuffs and I'll be all Sammy Sunshine positive for you. Hey, see that hacksaw over there in that tool bag? Get it for me, hmm? Make it worth your while. What do you say, man? Come on. Get me out of these things." The cuffs did look to be rubbing his wrist raw but lord knows I wouldn't be able to split up these two if another fight broke out.

"So you can beat my ass again? Or call me a nigger some more?"

"Come on now. It wasn't personal. It's just that your kind and my kind ain't meant to mix. That's all. It don't mean we can't… work together, parley, as long as there's some kind of mutual gain involved. So… about that hacksaw –"

"Dixon, give it a rest. Neither of us are gonna' get you out them cuffs. Not when you so expertly got yourself in them." I interrupted. "Can we all just try and get along and you can continue you bickerin' when we're back at camp and I'm out of hearin' range. Then you can be some other poor guy's problem."

"Jheez girly. I didn't know you could string more than four words together at once. Bet I could give you something to talk about." He said, giving me a suggestive look.

"Man shut up." T remarked, defending me.

About three minutes of silence and static later, the rest of the group joined us, all with a defeated look on their faces. No luck with the sewers I guess. Thunder rumbled above us. Hopefully the clouds will break and some of this heat will fade. In a world without showers, rain can be quite pleasant.

"What you thinking Rick?" Morales questions the new guy.

"That construction site, those trucks –they always keep keys on hand."

Morales took the binoculars and looked down at the street below. He says exactly what we're all thinking. "You'll never make it past the walkers."

Rick turned to face Glenn. "You got me outta that tank."

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted."

"Can't we distract them again?" Rick questioned.

"It'll take one hell of a distraction." I add. Walkers, five deep, surrounded every side of the building. No way was any small sound going to distract them like it normally does.

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something. A diversion, like on Hogan's Heroes." Merle couldn't help but talk. He loved the sound of his own voice.

"God. Give it a rest." Jacqui responded.

Officer Rick went into overdrive asking questions about distracting walkers, as if he's never seen them before today. "They can tell us by smell?"

"Can't you?" I replied. All the corpses around Atlanta made it difficult to remember what fresh air was like.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Andrea concluded.

I could see a plan forming in Rick's eyes. A way to get us off this damn roof top. As if not to disappoint, he broke the silence: "I got a plan…"

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

"Wayne Dunlap, Georgia license. Born in 1979."

We all silently looks at Wayne's body on the floor as Rick read off the license and handed it to Glenn.

"He had twenty-eight dollars in his pocket when he died and a picture of a pretty girl. 'With love, from Rachel.' He used to be like us –worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl… If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

Rick silently put back on his gloves and mask.

"One more thing," we all turned to face Glenn. "He was an organ donor."

The irony was obvious to us all. With one swift move, Rick had picked up the axe and brought it down through Wayne's stomach. Andrea and I flinched into each other as swing after swing, Rick tore through the decaying body. The smell immediately filled the room. It was overpowering. With no ventilation in the room, we were forced to breathe in the stale, stuffy air around us.

"I'm so gonna' hurl…" Glenn states. I silently agreed. I didn't envy him at all in this suicidal plan.

"Everybody got gloves?" Rick questioned. We all nodded in response. No one wanting to open their mouths unless absolutely necessary. "Don't get any on your skin or eyes."

The 'blood' was brown and chunky. The organs, shrivelled and hard. Nothing about this could be mistaken for a living person. Rick bent down and started smearing his white coat with the walker's insides. I gagged and took a step back for a second as the others joined in, coating the officer and Glenn from head to toe. Andrea draped intestines over Glenn's shoulders as Rick tried to distract him.

"Think about somethin' else. Puppies and kittens."

"Dead puppies and kittens…" And with T-Dog's words Glenn turned around and threw up. The odor of the room intensified once more.

"What is wrong with you?" Andrea chastised.

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass." Jacqui remarked. Clearly revolted by what T had to say.

"I'm sorry yo."

"You suck." Glen managed to say through deep breaths.

"Do we smell like them?"

"Absolutely." I added.

"Oh yeah." Andrea reached into her back pocket and pulled out her gun. "Glenn. Just in case." She offered him the gun and he reluctantly took it.

Rick through T the key to Merle's cuffs as the rest of us ascended the stairs to try and get a view of Glen and Rick. We took off our coats and gloves as we ran, leaving a trail of bloodied garments behind us.

"Hey, what's happening, man?" Morales completely ignored the hick as we all ran towards the edge of the roof.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B." I asked. T dropped back to where he was previously sitting and began trying to pick up a signal.

"Hey, come on. Talk to me y'all." Merle actually looked desperate for some information and probably an explanation for why we all smelt like shit.

"Base Camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?" None of us expected much so when the faint echo of Dale's voice broke through the crackles no one could help smiling. T continued, "We're in deep shit, we're trapped in the department store." As quickly as the signal arrived, it was gone. Nothing but static remained.

Morales pointed to the street below, dragging us all back to the present. "There!"

"That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?"

"Calm down Merle." I said, as T held up the key.

We continued to focus on the guys below. Watching them slowly hobble their way towards the truck. Thunder cracked in the air once more and the lightest of rain drops started to fall. As the rain began to get heavier and the thunder louder, I found myself praying to a God I no longer believed in that my friend would be safe.

"It's just a cloudburst. We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick." Morales explained.

We watched in horror as the blood and guts draped over Glenn and Rick started to form a small stream of red behind them as they moved. They seemed to be gaining attention from the surrounding walkers.

"Hey I can't see. What's goin' on?" I couldn't tell if that was Merle's natural instinct to constantly talk or actual concern for the safety of the group.

"They've started to run." I couldn't believe it even as I was said it. In two leaps, they both scaled the metal fence, narrowly missing the walkers' grasp. The van reversed away seconds before the chain-link fence got knocked down by the pack.

Andrea started to panic as she described every move. "They're… They're leavin' us! No! Oh wait – they're comin' back."

We lost sight of them and tension grew as we waited to see what on Earth they had planned. They wouldn't leave us. Glenn wouldn't do that to us. A car siren blared through the streets of Atlanta and Glenn's hurried voice broke through on the radio; ordering us to get to the roll up windows at the front of the store immediately.

In seconds everyone had grabbed their bags and bolted towards the door.

"You can't leave me here! Don't leave me here! Morales, girlie, T-Dog! Come on. Don't do this!" Merle screamed and begged us to save him.

Jacqui, Andrea and Morales gave it no thought and ran through the door. The conflict was clear on T's face. I stood in the door way waiting for him to hurry towards me. I was all too aware of the time limit on the situation.

"Throw Dixon the key and move!" I shouted. We'd done a lot of things since the world ended but leaving Merle out here was as good as murder and I couldn't live with myself if we left a man to die. T spun around in what I assumed was an effort to run back the Merle and hand him the key. The bags on his shoulders threw his balance off though causing him to fall and the key to fly out of his hand. The three of us watched as it bounced towards a drain and disappeared below.

"You did that on purpose!" Merle accused. His face was flushed with anger.

"Come on T – we gotta' go."

"Girlie, not you too! One of you do something!"

As T stood and rushed back towards me I did the only thing I could think of. Dale's tool box was next to me, wedging the door open. I kicked it with all the force I could muster as I braced against the door to keep it from shutting. Tools flew in Merles direction and I could only hope that it helper in some way.

"I'm sorry." I whispered under my breath before descending the stairs in an attempt to catch up with the others.

We made it to the doors and grabbed the chain with bated breath. Someone knocked at the door, hard, causing us to all pull. We threw bags onto the van and dived on together, piling atop one another. The tyres screeched as Rick drove away.

Andrea, Morales, Jacqui and Rick stared at T.

"I dropped the damn key."

No one quite knew what to say after that. Glenn's siren in the distance providing the only noise.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	4. Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

Morales moved up to the front of the van and sat beside Rick.

"Almost there guys."

I gathered my things and got ready to jump out. I desperately wanted some food, a wash and a nap. The van pulled to a stop and Andrea was the first one to jump out of the vehicle. She reunited with Amy. Morales ran straight for his children. I bee-lined straight towards Scott. He was a lot like a second father to me and I was so grateful to be back in camp with him. His warm embrace reminded me I was safe once again.

"Jesus girl, you sure know how to scare me." He chuckled.

"Well we're all safe and home now. I even managed to snag you a new fishin' hat." I presented him with his gift from my rucksack and went about emptying out the rest of my loot. "We found a new guy too. He's a cop like Shane." On cue, Rick stepped out of the van.

"Hey helicopter boy. Come say hello." Everyone's attention turned to the van as Morales introduced Rick.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl took off running towards Rick while Lori and Shane stood there in shock. We'd all heard the story of the coma. Carl would often talk to me about losing his dad after he found out I had lost mine. The whole camp fell silent and watched their emotional reunion. Carl, Lori and Rick fell to the ground – hugging each other as though their lives depended on it. We all went about our own business while the three of them reunited.

Later on that evening, we all sat around to listen to Rick's story.

"Disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Disoriented…" Rick sat with Carl in his lap. The young boy still seemed to be in shock that his father was next to him after all these weeks. "Fear, confusion – all those things but…" He swallowed. Overcome with emotion. "Disoriented comes closest."

Dale added his words of wisdom as Rick gathered his thoughts. "Words can be meager things. Sometimes they fall short."

"I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else. For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." Rick was perfectly describing how we all felt in the first few days. As we established our new way of life, people walked around with their eyes glazed over. Everyone struggled to come to terms with how swiftly everything had changed. Carls small voice broke the silence as we all took a moment to consider Rick's words.

"Mom said you died."

"She had every reason to believe that. Don't you ever doubt it son."

Lori looked up at Shane and shared a glance. It had long been suspected by everyone at camp that those two were screwing. Constantly wandering off together and returning with grass and leaves in their hair, clothes looking even more worn than they already did. Shane had been silent the whole time. In the few hours Rick had been with us, it was as though upon seeing his partner Shane resumed the role of deputy while Rick played the Sherriff.

Lori finally spoke up. "When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta, and it never happened."

Rick held her hand to reassure her, "Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell." We all nodded. Anyone who was evacuated to Atlanta probably never stood a chance. "And from the look of that hospital, it got overrun."

"Yeah, looks don't deceive. I barely got them out, you know?" Shane looked at the ground the whole time while speaking.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane. I can't begin to express it," Rick followed up. The gratitude in his eyes didn't get missed by anyone. Nor did the shame in Lori's. Or the guilt in Shane's.

"There go those words falling short again. Paltry things." Dale concluded.

The awkward silence was broken with Ed throwing another log onto the fire. We all tried to avoid him as such as possible. Everyone saw the bruises Carol showed up with every few days - suspiciously hand shaped. Shane pulled the extra log out of the fire after exchanging a few words with Ed, Carol and Sophia.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind." Dale raised a good point. The younger Dixon was off hunting but would be returning any day now.

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine."

Glenn interrupted T and Rick. "Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy."

Glenn was right. Although daryl was by far the quieter of the two, we all just assumed that he shared his brother's thoughts.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." T-Dog seemed determined to own up to the fall.

"I could bring it up? We seem to have some sort of understanding." I thought it was a sensible suggestion, but Rick quickly dismissed it, saying that it shouldn't be down to me as I was just a by-stander.

"We could lie?" Amy suggested.

"Or," her sister continued, "tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." She turned to face Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise - we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." Dale nodded along with what Scott said.

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it."

"We all were T." I added for support. "We all ran."

"I stopped long enough to chain that door." I looked at T as he continued to speak. "Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain, not that padlock. My point—Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us."

A new wave of guilt hit me upon hearing this revelation. T-Dog stood up and walked to his tent without saying another word. I said my goodnights and walked back to my tent. I changed out of my jeans and boots into some cotton shorts, crawled into my sleeping bag and tried to forget T's confession as I fell asleep.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	5. Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

I was up at dawn the next morning. I quickly changed into some thick black leggings and a flannel shirt. As I climbed out of my tent I noticed there were a few of the other women starting on the daily work. I tended to the fire briefly before joining Amy and Andrea folding everyone's clothes. More and more of the camp mates started to rise as the morning wore on. Women started cooking and cleaning while the men all began ripping part's from Glenn's red Dodge. Shane went on the daily water run in his car and quarry life continued as normal. Rick woke up an hour or so later and emerged from his tent and walked towards Lori – only stopping briefly to thank Carol for washing his clothes. I could see the husband and wife talking and whatever he was saying, she did not look happy about it. I refocused on separating clothes into piles and listened to Amy and Andrea chat about the foods they were missing.

We were all minding our business when Sophia's scream echoed throughout camp. With my gun loaded in and its holster around my waist, I ran alongside Shane and Rick towards her. Carl and Sophia came tumbling through the trees with Jacqui behind. Carol and Lori picked up their respective children, checking them over for any scratches as Jacqui knelt behind them to catch her breath. Glenn, Shane, Rick and I continues barrelling forwards to the source of their fear. In a clearing just outside of camp laid a deer on the floor. A half-eaten deer. Three crossbow bolts stuck out the animal's hind legs and walker was hunched over, ripping the flesh from the body. The walker, seemingly oblivious to the four of us surrounding it, continued to eat. It wasn't until Rick sighed that the corpse took any notice of us. Morales, Dale, Scott and Jim had all caught up to us at this point and the men took turns hitting the geek until Dale decapitated it and the groans fell silent. Amy watched on in horror as blood splattered across everyone.

"It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain." Everyone looked worriedly at Dale. He was right. Nothing like this had even come close to happening before today.

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what…" Jim's tone was cold and devoid of any emotion, which made his statement all the more chilling.

A branch behind us snapped and we all turned around, weapons raised. Daryl appeared from the bushes and everyone relaxed. Dixon looked at all of our worried faced then down at the buck on the floor.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this… Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Daryl punctuated each adjective with a kick to the walked laying on the floor.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping."

Daryl stormed over to Dale, wanting to take out his frustration on anyone around him. "What do you know about it old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" Dixon sighed and looked down again at the deer. "I've been tracking this deer for miles." He forcefully pulled the arrows out as he continued, "was gonna' drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" We all grimaced at the idea of eating second hand meat from a walker.

"I would not risk that." Shane responded for all of us.

"That's a damn shame." Daryl said, kicking the walker once again. "I got some squirrel—about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

There was a groan from the floor and the walker's disembodied head started snarling and biting.

"Oh God." Amy was whisked away by Andrea and out of view of the corpse.

"Come on, people. What the hell?" I cut Dixon off with a bullet through the eye socket of the walker – it's growling finally silenced permanently. Daryl looks towards me and gives me a curt nod. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all known nothin'?"

He walked back to camp and began shouting for his brother.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." He laid his crossbow against a log pile and went looking for the elder Dixon. Everyone in camp turned to face Daryl, knowing what was about to come next. Shane was the first one to talk.

"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" He turned to face Shane and waited expectantly.

"About Merle. There was a—There was a problem in Atlanta."

A heavy silence fell over the quarry. Daryl looked around and noticed everyone was watching him. I could see him swallow before asking, "he dead?" No one wanted to answer so I stepped up to talk.

"We don't know."

Daryl turned to face me, a mix of emotions on his face. After settling on anger he took as step closer to me and harshened his tone. "Whacha mean y'all don't know? He either is or he ain't!" It was obvious he was upset and that he needed answers. I took a step closer and holstered my gun.

"What I mean is- "

Rick cut me off mid-sentence causing Daryl to spin once again to face the person talking. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes," he said in a mocking tone. "You got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

T-Dog took a few steps closer to everyone and looked like he was about to speak up. Rick simply raised his hand for T to stop.

"Hold on. Let me process this." Daryl dropped the squirrels he was holding and started to pace around the clearing. The hot Georgia sun not helping cool his temper. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" It was clear to everyone that Daryl wasn'tl ikely to calm down any time soon and I could see Jim, Scott and Dale's grip tighten on their weapons as they watched the events unfold.

Rick swallowed nervously. "Yeah."

Daryl responded with a grunt, his back facing towards Rick. Shane and I moved closer to Rick. Daryl's breathing picked up. Everyone in camp was silent. Daryl spun round suddenly, fist raised. His positioning was off, and his knuckles connected with my mouth. Instantly I could taste blood.

"Shit!" Daryl exclaimed before Shane tackled him to the ground and put him in a choke hold.

Scott dragged me into the RV and towards Dale's first aid kit. "Your daddy didn't know when to quit neither." I chuckled as I wiped the blood from my split lip.

"It's nothin'. I'm fine."

"Yeah, yeah. He was always fine too." Scott rolled his eyes. "Your daddy had more than one busted lip in his day. He took some punches for me on occasion too."

"Exactly. I'm just following in my daddy's footsteps."

"Well just be careful. He'd be mighty mad at me if I let you get hurt."

"I know uncle Scott. I will."

The yelling outside has subsided. I could hear the faint voices of T, Rick and Daryl. I moved closer to the door to get a better view.

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" Lori said before turning into the RV.

Rick spoke up after his wife. "I'm going back."

Daryl stalked towards his tent and everyone went back to their business. I left the RV and headed to my tent. I changed out of my long sleeved and bloodied top into a cropped black t-shirt. I was In the middle of braiding my hair when I heard a cough from outside my tent and saw someone's shadow lurking outside the door.

"Come on in." I said, assuming it was Andrea or Carl looking to fix up my busted lip and bruised jaw.

"Er…"

It was Dixon, looking guilty as sin. "I wanted to come check on ya." He didn't look me in the eye, favouring staring at the ground. "I didn't mean-"

"Daryl it's fine."

His eyes flashed up at me before returning to the ground. "Yeah well still."

"Dixon. Seriously. I'm ok."

He nodded in response. Clearly his apologies needed some work but I expected nothing les from him. He grunted in response before dropping some arrows at the bottom of my tent. "Found them in the woods. Figured you could use 'em. For your practice." He nodded towards the bow sitting next to my sleeping bag. "Wrong shape for mine."

Before I could say thanks he had already walked away.

I left my tent and re-joined the group, sitting beside Glenn on the remains of his car. Rick exited his tent, doing up his officer's shirt and talking to Shane as they approached.

"Well, look, I—I don't, okay, Rick? So could you just—could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane questioned.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl snapped.

"Oh no, I did. Douche bag's what I mean. Merle Dixon—the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

Rick just sighed before replying. "What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst—me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" It sounded like an idiotic plan when Lori put it like that. Rick turned towards Glenn and I; a look of hope in his eyes.

"Oh come on!"

I simply sighed with frustration.

"You two know the way. You've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you both along. I know Lori would too."

Glenn looked past Rick to his family behind him and gave in.

"Well I guess I'm gonna have to go to keep all you boys in line," I joked. My attempt to lighten the mood failed.

"Well that's just great!" Shane barked. "Now you're gonna risk four people, huh?"

"Five." T-Dog stood, his pack already over his shoulder and ready to leave.

Daryl rolled his eyes at the new addition to our city group.

"You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." Shane was insistent that we stayed.

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns."

A look of realisation passed over Glenn's face after Rick mentioned more guns.

"Wait, what guns."

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

Shanes disapproval waned. "Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

To me it all seemed like more than enough reasons to go. I left to go collect my things as Lori and Rick bickered some more. I could hear footsteps behind me. Heavy paces, long stride, slight drag with each step. Most likely one of the guys. The man spoke with my back to him.

"You don't gotta go. Why not just leave it to the men? Huh?" I could tell Scott was just worried about me by the tone of his voice, but I needed to fix what we did. I had to help save Merle.

"I know I don't gotta. But I want to. I'm sorry." I turned around to see Scott's head lowered. He knew my stubbornness came from my father so there was no point in arguing with me once my mind was set.

"Well take this at least." He handed me his knife. "It's not much but most I can do to protect ya'."

I smiled at the gesture and graciously accepted, knowing it would make him feel better. As I turned back to continue organising my things I could hear him ambling away.

"He's right ya' know." My heart instantly went to my gun as I spun around.

"Jesus Daryl. I didn't hear ya'. You scared the shit outta me." I pressed my hand against my heart in an attempt to calm it.

"You don't gotta come. It's not safe."

"Daryl. I'm a grown ass woman and I've made up my mind." I put on my pack to reinforce my point and crossed my arms.

He merely grumbled, "Be ready in five," and walked away.

20 minutes later, we were out of the van and started to creep through the city. Glenn and I worked well together – we weaved through buildings and covered each other without needing two say a word. With three other people it was a lot harder to be as in sync.

"Merle first or the guns?" Rick looked questioningly at Glenn and I.

"Merle, we ain't even havin' this conversation!" I could sense Daryl was getting riled up again but Rick paid no attention.

"We are. What do you two think?"

"Merles closest…" I started, leaving Glenn to finish my thought.

"We'll get him then the guns then head straight back to the van."

I nodded my approval and we started to move once more - Glenn took the front while I covered the back. When we entered the department store Daryl and I took point. His crossbow and my silencer made it far easier for us to go undetected. T-Dog lead the way up the stairs to the roof, armed with Dale's bolt cutters. As soon as the chain was broken, Daryl barged to the front and ran out to where Merle was.

Where we though Merle was.

Daryl's cries faded into the background as I stared at the handcuffs in disbelief. Merle wasn't there. Just the cuffs, a bloodied hacksaw and a hand.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

Daryl turned to face us with murder on his eyes and stormed towards T-Dog. Without thinking I jumped between the two. Daryl suddenly came to a halt.

"I left him too Daryl. I was the one that kicked the tools to him. I left him here too. We all did"

I could see the conflict in his eyes but eventually the blind rage turned to anger which turned to mild irritation. Only then did I think it was safe for everyone if I moved. He turned briefly, blinked away some tears, then faced T-Dog.

"You got a do-rag or something?"

T passed one over and Daryl carefully placed his brothers hand in the fabric. He carefully wrapped it up and put it in Glenn's backpack, ignoring Glenn's complaints. No one wanted to face Dixon but it was clear that he was trying not to lose it. His only family left in this world was gone.

"He must have used a tourniquet" Daryl guesses.

"Maybe his belt?" I offer.

"Maybe. Be much more blood if he didn't." Daryl followed the blood trail with the rest of us following him. It led to a small kitchen – probably an office lunch room a few months back. Some gas canisters were burning over on the table and the blood trail stopped in the same area. Rick held up a small flat iron to reveal something stuck to it.

"What is that?" Glenn asked. I knew immediately.

"It's skin."

Rick elaborated further, "he must have cauterized the stump."

Daryl straightened up. "Told ya' he was tough. He even busted outta this death trap," he said walking towards a broken window.

"We gotta go get the guns. Then we can go looking for him." T-Dog supported my decision.

"Yeah, I ain't walking through the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions."

Daryl grunted his response which I took for a yes. "Right, follow me then boys."

I lead everyone to the neighbouring building and Glenn stopped us to explain his idea.

"You're not doing this alone." Rick said.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl seemed to be in agreement with the sheriff for once.

"Explain it once more again?" I look back down at his map as he went over it for the second time for me.

"If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast," he begins. On the floor he has drawn out a map of the city and where everything was. "This paper binder is the tank – it's five blocks away from us at the moment." He laid it down on the map and dropped a scrunched-up sticky note next to it. "These are the guns." I nodded along. "The tab dispenser is Daryl and Nicole and the eraser is Rick and T-Dog." Glenn faced Rick and placed the tab dispenser down before continuing, "here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl, Nicole and I will go."

"Why us?" I ask.

"Your silencer and his crossbow are the quietest."

Daryl and I both nodded and allowed Glenn to continue: "While they wait in the alley, I'll run to the street and grab the bag."

"Yo, where you got us?" T asked. Glenn picked up the eraser and placed it two blocks away along a different alley.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl and Nicole. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

We all nodded in agreement and silently prayed that we could pull it off. I knew Glenn was fast, but I couldn't help worrying for my friend.

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" We all waited for Glenn's answer to Daryl's question.

"Delivered pizzas, why?"

A nervous chuckle was the only thing I had to contribute.

We split up and began to take out places. Glenn climbed down the ladder, followed by Daryl then me. Immediately Daryl and I raised our weapons. The guys spoke as we tiptoed towards the alley entrance.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman."

"I'm Korean."

"Whatever."

I simply rolled my eyes throughout their exchange. We took aim behind a dumpster as Glenn began to sneak onto the main road. The alley was narrow and our hiding place even smaller. Daryl positioned himself first and I crawled in next to him. As I moved I could feel him tense every time we touched. My arm grazed over his, his shoulder pressed against my back. I completely forgot how to kneel normally around him and in such close proximity I couldn't think of the right thing to say. I swallowed nervously, hoping that I wasn't annoying him too much. Glenn was now out of sight but I could hear footsteps approaching from the direction area we had just been.

I took a deep, steadying breath - just like my Daddy had taught me in moments of stress – and swung out from our hiding place, gun raised.

A kid not much younger than Glenn stared back at me. His skin was sweaty, breathing erratic and eyes wide.

"Wow don't shoot me! What do you want?!" He shouted. He was unarmed but I kept my gun raised.

"Lookin' for a man, he's hurt real bad. Name's Merle. You seen him?" I could hear Daryl fidgeting as I spoke but he remained hidden.

"Ayudame!"

"Shut up!" I ordered. "You're gonna bring the walkers down on us."

"Ayudame!Ayudame!"

He left me with no choice. I back handed him around the face and sent him falling. In his shock I knelt on his chest and covered his mouth with my unarmed hand. He continued to yell under my hand and was bucking his hips and legs as he tried to knock me off.

I head scuffling from behind me and turned around to see Daryl take a baseball bat to his back and another huge guy running towards me. The stranger's foot connected with my shoulder, knocking me off the kid and into a wall. My back and head took most of the force causing me to involuntarily scream in pain. My surroundings started spinning as I stood up and tried to help but I couldn't risk using my gun and hitting Daryl.

"That's it. That's the bag, vato. Take it! Take it!" The man who kicked me yelled.

I could hear Glenn yell as someone punched him in the face and tackled him to the floor. My vision was still swimming as I ran towards the men. Daryl shot the largest in the ass as he tried to grab our bag of guns. The kid was still laying on the floor, gasping for breath and not presenting a threat. The final of the three held Glenn back and dragged him towards a car that approached. Walkers were stumbling towards us quickly; all the sounds and the smell of human blood was luring them from all over the city.

"Daryl! Nicole! Help me!"

Then men jumped into the car with Glenn and drove away, leaving only the kid and the guns. I cried out for my friend, wishing I did more to save him. Rick and T appeared from behind us. T pinned the scrawny kid against the wall while Rick ran for the bag of guns. My adrenaline rush was wearing off fast and pain in my head was replacing it. The dizziness hadn't worn off and I stumbled into a wall before I felt a strong hand wrap around my upper arm. Daryl was beside me holding me up as Rick formed a plan to escape.

"Get to the ladder. Go!" Rick commanded.

"She needs a minute. Wait." Daryl leant me against a wall and I braced against it and took a deep breath. In the chaos I notice I had reopened the cut on my lip causing it to bleed again. The metallic taste filled my mouth making me feel sick. One final deep breath and I was ready to go.

"I'm fine. We gotta' run." I followed after T-Dog and the kid. We all ascended the ladder up to the roof and worked out way back to the room we planned in. I collapsed into a chair the second I knew we were safe.

Rick walked up to me and looked me in the eye. "How you feelin'? Looks like you got concussion."

"Yeah she hit that wall pretty hard" Daryl added.

I ignored all their worried looks and turned to the kid. "Where's Glenn?"

"I ain't tellin' you guys shit."

"Jesus, man. What the Hell happened back there?" T asked.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me and Nicole."

"Man, that bitch is the one who jumped me."

I was sick of this shit. I stood up and coked my gun against the kid's temple. "You best watch your language boy and you best start talkin'…"

Daryl redirected his focus towards Rick. "They took Glenn. Could have taken Merle too."

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl suddenly darted to Glenn's bag. "Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?"

He removed the blue do-rag from the main compartment and threw the hand onto the kid's lap. He screamed and fell out of his chair in an effort to get away from the severed body part. Dixon then oved closer to the kid's horrified face and whispered menacingly. "This time I'ma start with the feet."

Rick pulled Daryl away and asked politely once more where they were holding Glenn. That time the kid gave up the information in a heartbeat.

We followed his directions to an old brick building. T-Dog took up position on higher ground as a back-up if something went wrong. I held the kid by his shoulder with my gun firmly pressed to his side while Rick and Daryl stood either side of us.

Daryl warned the kid once again. "One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know."

"G's gonna take the arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours. Just so you know."

"G?" Rick joined in the conversation. "Who's G?"

"Guillermo. He the man here."

"Okay then. Let's go see Guillermo." Rick responded coolly as he cocked his gun and took a step into an open courtyard.

Large double doors slid open to reveal a dozen men all armed with crowbars and baseball bats staring back.

The central man stepped forward. He was unarmed and spoke calmly. "You okay, little man?" I assumed this was the infamous 'G'. He didn't look intimidating. He had a small build and looked pretty clean and smart. Nothing like what I'd imagined.

"They're gonna cut off my feet!" I pushed the kid slightly as a signal for him to shut up.

"Cops do that?" G questioned, looking Rick up and down.

"Not him. This redneck puto here. He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." I said quietly as I nudged him again.

"Take it easy miss." G said, his gaze falling on me. "You seem like a fine young lady, don't you think we can talk this out?"

"Your men gave her a damn concussion and you wanna suggest we talk it out?!" Daryl shouted from beside me.

"Hey, that's that vato right there, homes. He shot me in the ass with an arrow. What's up, homes, huh?"

I recognise the man as the one that tackled me earlier. He raised his gun towards Daryl and in return, Dixon turned his bow on the stranger. G raised his arm, signalling for the gun to be lowered and his subordinate obliged.

"Chill, ese, Chill. Chill." There's a moment of silence as G looks each one of us up and down before settling his eyes on Rick. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick, man."

"Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made… On both sides."

"Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related."

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him."

Daryl interrupted G and Rick at the mention of family. "You got my brother in there?"

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys. But I've got an Asian. You interested?" Daryl snarled in response and tightened his grip.

Rick took over the conversation again, "I have one of yours, you have one of mine. Sounds like an even trade."

"Don't sound even to me." G scoffed.

The kid took a small step forward. "G. Come on, man. Please."

G ignored the boy's plea and continued. "My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" I question.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken." Rick was keeping calm very well. With all their gazes shifting between the three of us I was starting to think this wouldn't go as well as we planned.

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours I mean." Rick added. "It's my bag of guns."

G laughed at Rick's confidence. "The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

Both Rick and I look up to where T-Dog is taking aim. His shot looks to be lined up perfectly on G.

"Oye." G shouted. We hear scuffling above us and look up, behind their group. Two broad men leas out someone with a bag over there head. One slowly removed the bag as the other pushed the victim towards the very edge of the building. Glenn looked terrified. His mouth was duct taped closed but his eyes were filled with dread.

"I see two options." Rick looked back towards G but my eyes were glued on Glenn. "You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood."

After a few moments, Guillermo and his men backed away into the building and Glenn was dragged backwards, out of sight. The doors shut and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Daryl grabbed the kid from me and pushed him along in front, back to base while we worked out what to do.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	7. Chapter 7

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

When we arrived back to the room the men immediately started debating.

Daryl began. "Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?"

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T shrugged against the wall as he spoke. None of us were sure what to do.

The kid piped up. "You calling G a liar?"

In a flash Daryl was in the boy's face. "Are you a part of this?" Daryl slapped the kid across the mouth to shut him up. "You want to hold on to your teeth?"

T ignored the interruption and continued, "question is do you trust that man's word?"

"No." I joined in. "They jumped us and took Glenn in the first place. His word means nothin'"

"Real question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Or Nicole's. Or T's. Or mine. Glenn worth that to you?" Daryl asked Rick.

For the first time, Rick spoke up. "What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

"We can't leave him." I confirmed. "But now we gotta' make a choice about how we get him back…"

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" T asked.

"I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you three here. You should get out, head back to camp."

"That ain't gonna happen Rick."

"What would we tell your family?"

The four of us shared a knowing look and began preparing.

We gagged the boy and tied his hands behind his back. Once again he lead us to his people and we pushed him through the doors first before following him in. All of G's men stood their waiting. They were armed and staring at us -watching every single move me made. I held a shot gun in my arms and had my handgun strapped to my side.

G emerged from the crowd and walked slowly up to Rick as he assessed the situation. "I see my guns but they're not all in the bag."

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that."

Someone behind G spoke up: "Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right? Unload on their asses, ese."

I clenched my jaw as G spoke, ready and waiting for Rick's signal. "I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation sheriff.

"No, I'm pretty clear."

Rick turned to me and nodded. I cut the kids hands free and pushed him forward with the barrel of my gun.

"You have your man. I want ours."

G took a step closer to Rick and all of him men griped their weapons tighter. I focused on those around me. Closest to me were two men with bats and one with a gun. First, I'd shoot the one with the firearm, then swing the butt of the gun at the smaller man on my right and finally use my handgun on the last one. I tried to count the ones further into the room to see how many more I'd need to take out but the shadows hid them too well. I hadn't been listening to the Rick and G speak until Rick cocked his fun. Daryl and T followed their lead.

"Felipe! Felipe!"

An elderly woman emerged from the crowd of armed men.

"Abuela, go back with the others—now." The look of concern was evident on the men's faces.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl barked at them.

G broke eye contact with Rick and turned to face the woman. "Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now."

She ignored G and continued speaking to Felipe. "Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

My arms wavered. Unsure if I could go through with out plan.

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you." G dismissed his second in command.

"Who are those men?" She asked, walking towards Rick.

"Don't you take him." She begged. "Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

Rick lowered his weapon and spoke to her. "Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson."

"Then what do you want him for?"

I lower my gun and speak in a kinder tone. "Ma'am. We're just looking for out friend. Glenn. We don't want to cause your grandson any trouble."

Her eyes lit up as I spoke. "The Asian boy? He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you. He needs his medicine." She gently took my hand and guided me through the men. G ordered them to let us pass. And T, Rick and Daryl all follow me.

She guided us through a small courtyard and up some stairs into a long white hallway. As we walked past each room there were two or three hospital bed with older men and women sat down. They were reading and talking as if nothing had changed. Some sat in the hall, smiling as we walked past. The woman continued to lead me forward through the hall until it led to a small auditorium. Several people surrounded an elderly man, struggling to catch his breath. Glenn stood to the side, watching as Felipe cared for his patient.

"What the hell is this?" Daryl asks.

Glenn responded calmly, "an asthma attack. Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog sighed. Three small yappy Chihuahuas ran through the room into a small dog basket.

Rick pulled G aside as we looked around the room. Each of the seemingly terrifying men had lowered their weapons and was interacting with one of the was a sad sort of joy in this atmosphere. It was unlikely many facilities like this were left running and it made my almost grateful that I didn't have any relatives to worry about in a place like this.

Guillermo led the five of us into an office to continue the conversation.

"What about the rest of your crew?"

"The vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind—plunderers. The kind that take by force."

"We aren't like that" I said reassuringly.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage—appearances."

T-Dog laughed to himself. "Guess the world changed."

G spoke with sad clarity. "No. it's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So, we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So, we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Because they can." Rick offered his shotgun and reassuring words before taking more guns from the bag and placing them on the table.

We began traveling back to our van to go home.

"Admit it," Glenn started, "you only came back to Atlanta for the hat."

Rick chuckled. "Don't tell anybody."

Daryl was seemingly more upset. On our way back to the van we quickly scanned the surrounding area with no sign of Merle. "You've given away half our guns and ammo."

"It was less than half Daryl." I interrupted. He merely grunted back at me – clearly unsatisfied with my answer.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Rick replied.

As we crawled back out throught the fence we all froze.

"What the…?"

"Oh my God."

"Where the hell's our van?"

Rick spoke through clenched teeth. "Merle."

Daryl added what we were all thinking. "He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp."

Nothing good could come of that.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	8. Chapter 8

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

"There ain't no more cars round here." Daryl said, returning from scouting the area.

"Looks like we gotta start walkin' then…" I said dejectedly. "Maybe runnin' if Merles on his way."

We redistributed the weight in everyone's pack to make it easier to run. I could have sworn I saw Daryl take a few extra water bottles from my pack and put them in his, but I didn't mention it, knowing I'd just get snapped at if I did. It was a 20-minute drive between the city and our camp, mostly uphill with lots of turnings and dirt roads. Unsurprisingly, it took us a lot longer to run it. With my adrenaline now completely gone from the days events and all the blood rushing to my legs as I ran, I began feeling light headed once again. My back was definitely starting to bruise from being thrown into a wall and my brain felt as though it was rattling around my skull with every step I took. The guys all seemed completely fine with our pace, so I soldiered on. My breathing was a lot more laboured than theirs was and I had to readjust my back pack twice as often as they all did but I persevered. Daryl kept shooting me looks over his shoulder, probably since I was beginning to trail behind.

"Hold on a sec," he said in a gruff tone. "Think I heard me a squirrel. Wait here."

The four of us sat on the dirt path as he disappeared into the trees beside us. After five minutes I had finally controlled my breathing and began stretching out my sore muscles as the men talked amongst themselves about dinner when we got back. We weren't too far away from camp now. Maybe another 15 minutes running. I took a final sip of water before screwing on the lid and preparing to go. Daryl emerged from the treeline a minute later and simply shook his head.

"It's too dark. Can't see shit."

The sun had begun to set long ago, leaving the night's air cool on our skin and our path lit by only the moon and two torches. After Daryl took some water we continued on. The path gradually started to flatten out into a much more manageable route. Just as I caught up to Rick and Glenn at the front, screams erupted from camp up the road. Before we even had time to react, gun shots echoed around the quarry.

"Oh my god." Rick pants out.

We all began sprinting, dropping our packs as we ran and preparing out guns.

Chaos. People screamed, guns fired, bats swung. I could see camp mates laying, bleeding on the ground. Some people had walkers surrounding them. The five of us showered the camp with bullets. Taking down walkers from every angle. Andrea was hunched over someone laying on the ground. I shot two walkers approaching her before turning my sights on someone else. Carol and Sophia were at the edge of camp, watching on in horror – unaware that a geek was approaching from behind.

"Carol – move!" I ordered. As soon as they were out of the line of fire I took the shot. One to the chest and one to the head. It dropped. I spun once more and covered Glenn as one of the walkers got too close. I was too busy covering my campmates to notice the walker approaching behind me. I heard a snarl in my left ear and felt someone, or something, grab my hair and pull. I screamed, trying to pull back and move away from the corpse. I desperately tried to swing my gun backwards to knock it off. I could feel myself beginning to drop to the floor as the walker had a tight grip on my when I felt a cool gust of air brush past my cheek. The grip on my hair loosened and I took my chance – running forwards towards the fire. I turned back, prepared to shoot the oncoming walker only to see it had an arrow in its head. I looked over to Daryl, but he was focused on taking down another geek. A few more rounds let off and they were all down. No more growling and biting, only crying and whimpering. Bodies surrounded us. Bodies of my campmates and walkers. My heart broke. The fire had started to die, leaving the blue-tinged light from the moon illuminating the horror around camp. I walked shakily toward the RV where everyone was standing. I noticed Andrea was hunched over a body – Amy's body. My heart broke even more.

Reality set in during the silence and people collapsed on each other crying and hugging their loved ones. Rick, Carl and Lori stood holding each other with Sophia and Carol standing close by. Shane began to look around, counting how many friends we had lost. The Morales children were crying into their parent's chests. Dale stood still, watching Andrea cry over her sister in horror. I began to look around for Scott, wondering why he hadn't come up to find me. I checked in the RV and around the fire pit, but I couldn't see him. I looked at Dale questioningly, but he couldn't meet my gaze. A sinking feeling in my stomach set in. I walked towards his truck and saw the fishing hat I had gifted him. My stomach dropped lower. A few more steps around his truck and I saw it. A gut-wrenching scream escaped my mouth as I dropped my gun and fell to the floor. My knees crashed hard and I could feel the fabric rip as I landed and jagged stones. In seconds Daryl and Shane were there, crossbow and gun raised at the ready. My hand went to my chest as if I was trying to hold it together because I was certain it couldn't stand being broken further.

Scott's unblinking eyes stared back at me. They had glazed over and no longer held the warmth they normally did. His hand was loosely holding onto a piece of wood coated in blood and a fallen walker lay beside it. His shirt was wrinkled and covered in mud and his pants were torn at the cuffs. His neck had a chunk missing.

I felt as though I couldn't catch my breath. Each time I tried to inhale the decaying air caused me to choke and I was left kneeling on the floor gasping. My vision blurred as tears trailed down my face. Strangled cries involuntarily left my mouth as Shane's hands carefully wrapped around my shoulders. I flinched at his touch but allowed him to pull me up and guide me away. I stood beside Glenn watching grief overwhelm the camp. I felt completely numb.

Jim was the first to break the silence.

"I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes."

I retrieved my dad's old hunting coat from my bag and sat in Scott's camping chair, watching the group. I didn't remember falling asleep that night.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	9. Chapter 9

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

I woke with the sun the next morning, still sitting on the camping chair wrapped in a jacked two sizes too big for me. Andrea was still sitting on the floor staring at Amy's face. I wanted to help my friend but I had no idea what to say. I settled for actions instead. After retrieving the hairbrush from my tent I sat next to Andrea and raised the brush. She said nothing and I took that as a signal for it being ok. I gently started combing Amy's blonde hair out of her face. Her skin was white, bordering grey, and cold with blood and dirt staining her face. Once her hair was neater I grabbed a washcloth from the RV and dampened it a bit before cleaning the mess from her.

Lori joined us. "Andrea." There was no reaction from the elder sister so Lori continued. "I'm so sorry. She's gone. You need to let us take her."

Andrea continued to ignore Lori so I took over. "We all cared about her and I promise we'll be as gentle as we can."

Andreas face remains blank so Lori and I get up and give Andrea some privacy. As we walk away I squeeze Andrea's shoulder and whisper, "I'm here."

"She still won't move?" Rick asks. Carol, Lori, Dale, Shane and I are gathered around sitting by one another.

"She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night. What do we do?"

Shane callously answers Lori. "Can't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

Rick nods and starts walking towards Andrea, addressing us over his shoulder, "I'll tell her how it is."

Before Rick had a chance to say anything, Andrea's gun is on Rick. He raised his arms and backed away. As he's walking back I notice all our deceased camp members are laid out next to one another with small knife marks to their temples. The walkers were getting seen to by Daryl, who was throwing a pick axe about, ensuring this time they all remained dead. I can't bear to look at Scott for more than a second so I refocus my attention on Amy.

"Maybe she should be the one to do it?" I say to the group and nod in the direction of the sisters.

Daryl stormed over. "Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest?" Shane asked

"Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No. For God's sakes, let her be." Lori said before storming away. Carol and I nod.

"We could all take the shot and end it but it needs to be her." I add before leaving too. I cool off for a second in the shade of Scott's truck and drink some water. Staring out over the lake was calming. I could almost imagine that I was out camping with my Pa or on a school trip with my friends. The water was clear and the rays from the sun danced along the surface as a gentle tide washed in and out. It was too beautiful for this sick world.

I joined Jacqui moving bodies of our friends into rows to be buried. We approach Scott's body and I can't bring myself to touch him.

"I…" trailing off, I couldn't find the words to say anything.

"I know. It's fine sweetheart." She said. Jim took my place instead.

"Are you bleeding?" Jacqui asked him. I notice a slight tear in his shirt with red liquid seeping through.

"I just got some on me from the bodies," he defended.

Jacqui stood up, leaving Scott's body for the moment. "That blood's fresh. Were you bit?"

"No. I got scratched during the attack."

"You got bit."

"I'm fine."

"Then show us."

Jim swallowed, clearly cracking under Jacqui's scrutiny. "Don't tell, please." He begged us to keep his secret but Jacqui stepped back and yelled.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim."

Everyone froze and turned to face him.

"I'm okay. I'm okay."

Daryl took over the inquisition. "Show it to us." Dixon began quickly walking towards Jim causing him to step back. "Show it to us!"

The group stepped closer, all wanting to see what was happening. Jim grabbed a shovel from behind him causing T to tackle the mechanic and Daryl to lift his shirt. Sure enough there it was, clear teeth marks on Jim's stomach. T-Dog and Daryl back away as though being near Jim would spread the infection. Everyone forms a small group around Rick to decide the poor man's fate. I opt for gently guiding Jim to the shade of the RV and going to get him some water. As he sips the drink I sat next to him.

"So…" I start. Not sure what to say.

"You don't gotta stay here ya' know." He puts down the water bottle and drops his head into his hands.

"I know." I lean back and stretch out my legs to show him that I don't mind.

He chuckled at my nonchalance. "Your uncle was a good man, ya' know." I swallowed hard. A rush of emotions hit me all at once. "Helped us fixing the cars. Help us keep the fire goin'. Helped us with keepin' people safe. He died defending the camp."

I took a deep breath. "You're a good man too Jim."

I saw his eyes flicker up behind me and I turned around to see Daryl striding towards us, armed with a pick axe. He raised it above his shoulder and I stood. Guarding Jim. Rick cocked his gun to the back of Daryl's head and the hunter froze.

"Girl you best stop getting' in my way."

"Not likely Dixon." I counter.

Shane joined me between Jim and Daryl. "Hey hey hey!"

Rick spoke slowly and clearly, reinforcing every word. "We don't kill the living."

Daryl knew he was surrounded and lowered the pick axe, scoffing as he did. "That's funny coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." He stormed off towards the bodies and continued to put pick axes through brains.

Rick forcefully grabbed Jim by the arm causing my defensiveness to rise once more. "Come with me." He ordered.

"Where are you taking me?" Jim looked worried, like a school boy in trouble. Compared to the two cops he was a smaller, quieter man.

As Rick began walking with Jim close by he simply responded, "somewhere safe."

The group scattered to continue with their jobs. I walked over to my tent and gathered some soap, shampoo, a towel and clean clothes. I wanted to wash the previous night off of me. The path down to the lake wasn't too far and could easily be seen from camp but I took my gun just in case. No one was washing clothes or bathing so I had it all to myself. My hair was matted and brushing out my braid took a long time, even with help from the water. I stripped down to my underwear and bra before entering the water. It was midday at this point and the sun had already reached it's peak meaning the water wasn't too cold. I gently leaned back and floated on the surface, shutting my eyes to protect them from the sun. The water covered my ears which blocked out all the noise from camp. In this moment it was almost serene. I could forget about my losses and hardships. I let the water soothe my aching body and cleanse my cuts. In moments like this it was hard to believe the world had come to an end. It was hard to remember anything other than the warmth from the sun and the current from the water even existed. The gunshot brought me out of my little world and into the real one.

I choked on the water as I righted myself from laying on my back. Frantic as I looked around. There was no screaming or crying. Just that single gun-shot. I hastily washed my hair and body before crying off and changing into a clean pair of underwear and bra, fresh blue jeans and a loose black vest. My hair had already started to dry in the Georgia heat. I gathered my things and walked back to camp. Lori was watching Carl as he read at the edge of camp.

"Did I hear a shot about ten minutes ago?" I asked her. Hoping I did so I knew my ears weren't playing tricks on me.

"She did it," Lori replied, pointing to Andrea who was gently wrapping Amy's body in a loose sheet. "She finished it." I nodded and walked back to my tent.

I pulled a mirror from my bag as I brushed my now dry hair. Finally I was clean. My skin had tanned nicely from the days in the sun and my hair seemed a shade lighter. No longer was I a dull, dark brunette but it had a healthy chestnut glow. Since I had no straighteners, I was forced to let my hair dry in its natural wavy state. It grazed my upper arms and framed my face. With my hair a lighter colour, my dark brown, almost black, eyes seemed to stand out even more. Freckles dusted my nose and under-eyes as they always had done. My cheekbones was far more pronounced than they used to be. Fewer meals and longer walks clearly took their toll. I put the mirror away and left my tent to re-join the group.

Glenn approached me hesitantly. "We're… Er. Going to burry our people. Your Uncle. Amy. You want to come?" My nerves intensified with every step I took towards the graves, just outside of camp. I trailed behind the group as we all walked in silence.

After burying 13 other people, attention turned to me.

Rick cleared his throat before asking, "do you mind if we…?" He trailed off and gestured to Scott's body. I shook my head, incapable of speaking.

Morales and Rick gently lifted the top and bottom of the fabric he was wrapped in and placed him in a grave. Tears silently rolled down my cheeks. I stood there, unmoving, as Daryl and Shane started filling in his grave. Andrea had insisted that she buried her sister herself. Eventually allowing Dale to help her. I couldn't bear to take my eyes off Scott's grave to watch. As everyone started to walk back to camp, I stood still. Glenn joined me briefly and gave me Scott's hat. I nodded my head in thanks, still unable to form a coherent thought. I walked towards his fresh gave and gently placed the hat on top.

"I'm so sorry." I wiped a tear away before continuing, "Say hello to my daddy and ma for me."

I walked back up to camp on my own. I could see Rick, Shane and Lori talking at the RV's door but I walked to sit alone by the fire pit. Sophia edged closer to me, staring at the floor. She looked scared to approach me so I put on a smile and called her over.

"You okay there Sophia?"

At my invitation she came and sat next to me, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket. She handed it to me before speaking.

"Thank you for saving my mom and me. And I'm sorry about your uncle."

"I'm sorry about your daddy."

She didn't look upset in the slightest and I knew no one in camp was particularly mourning the loss of Ed. Carol cried more for one of the women we did laundry with. I unfolded the paper and looked down. She had drawn us. Sitting by the lake. Her doll sat beside her and Carol beside me. It was as good as any 12 year olds drawing could be in crayon. But I thought it was beautiful. I hugged her tightly as I thanked her, "I'll keep it with me forever."

Rick and Shane emerged from the woods and walked towards the group. Rick stood behind his family as Shane spoke.

"I've been, uh—I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no—there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning for the CDC. Okay?"

Everyone nodded and set about gathering their things. I loaded Scott's clothes and tent into the RV for safe keeping. I held onto the first aid and what little food we had left. My stomach gurgled upon seeing the tinned beans. I hadn't eaten since we left camp to get Merle. Too much had happened to even have time. I started folding up my clothes and packing my tent when I heard Morales.

"Crap!" I looked up to see Dale and Morales talking. "You mean there's nothing you can do Dale?"

"I'm sorry. Jim was the mechanic and he's in no shape to be fixing your car now."

Morales kicked the wheel of the vehicle. I coughed loudly to get their attention before standing up and walking towards the family.

"Take Scott's truck. You can all fit in and honestly, you'd be doing me a favour. I don't think I can face driving his car alone." I held out the keys but Morales didn't take them.

"You sure? Taking a car is asking an awful lot of people these days."

I picked up his hand by the wrist and placed the keys in his palm. "I really don't want it. It's yours."

Eliza and the two kids hugged me tightly while Morales just stood there, unsure of what to say. As he opened his mouth to argue once more I cut him off. "Just pay the kindness forward." I returned to my packing. When everyone was done, we all gathered around to listen to Shane's plan.

"Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on Channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Morales stepped forward."We're, uh…we're—we're not going."

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." Eliza elaborated.

Shane asked once again, "you sure? You go you're on your own. You won't have anyone to watch your back."

Morales nodded as Eliza and the kids said their goodbyes, hugging everyone individually. "We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family."

Rick asked one final time, "you sure?"

"We talked about it. We're sure."

Eliza hugged me and whispered another thank you.

"Just keep them beautiful kids of your safe for me." My eyes started tearing up and I quickly wiped them away.

I approached Daryl, noticing he was wiping away a tear too. It dawned on me that he'd lost his brother and if we were leaving the only place Merle knew, it was unlikely they'd see each other again. I started to back away – not wanting to bother him but he noticed me.

"What ya want?"

"I was wondering if I could ride with you? I gave Morales Scott's van. Rick, Lori, Carl, Carol and Sophia are all riding together. I don't want to intrude in the RV and I can't watch Jim suffer like that. Andrea and T are together and I'm still not sure if she wants company or not."

"And Shane?" Daryl asks.

"I just don't want to ride alone with Shane."

"But ain't scared to ride alone with me?"

"First of all, I'm not scared of Shane." He looks amused as I try to defend myself. "And secondly, I've been huntin' with you alone already and if you were gonna kill me, ya woulda done it then."

He doesn't respond at first so I walk towards Shane, about to ask him for a ride when Daryl stops me by the arm. "Throw your stuff in the truck and hop in."

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	10. Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

We drove out together and watched Morales turn the other way. Their kids turned to wave to us all through the rear mirror and soon they became little more than a spec in the distance. Daryl was holding on to the wheel with one hand, one arm out the window. He kept fidgeting around in his seat as if he wasn't sure how to sit around me.

"I'm sorry about your brother…" My attempt to break the ice only seemed to make it more awkward. He swallowed and nodded his head slightly before responding.

"Sorry about your uncle."

I had nowhere else to steer the conversation, so I too began squirming in my seat. Twelve uncomfortable minutes later, the horn from the RV alerted us all we had to pull over. Smoke was pouring from Dale's vehicle. Desperate to escape the awkward silence I mumbled something about trying to help before jumping out of Daryl's car.

I approached Rick as he spoke to Dale. "Can you jury-rig it?"

The older man sighed and shook his head. "That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape."

Daryl had caught up at this point and together with Andrea, Glenn and T they were watching the treeline surrounding us for any geeks. Shane was staring up the road with his binoculars trying to find somewhere to get supplied for the RV.

"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky."

Just as T was about to respond Jacqui ran from the RV. "Y'all, Jim—it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

Rick sighed as T-Dog and Shane agreed to drive ahead. The officer reluctantly walked to the RV door and paused before entering. I took the opportunity to talk to Daryl. If we could start a conversation hopefully it would continue into the car.

"So… do you think Jim's gonna' be okay?" I asked optimistically in hopes of keeping the mood light and breezy. Dixon was anything but light and breezy.

"Nah." There was a moment of silence as my jaw dropped at his brutal honesty. "Fevers got him. Seein' things. A man don't come back from that. Even before the dead started walkin', if I saw another man in his condition while out hunting – I'd know he's a goner."

I swallowed back my tears. I knew that Daryl was just being realistic but after losing so many people already, I was still hoping for a miracle. I didn't know Jim well, but our group was beginning to feel a little too empty.

Rick somberly stepped out of the RV. His face had lost some colour after speaking to Jim. I automatically began to expect the worst. I was right.

Rick tried to explain what Jim wanted but it made no sense to me.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick spoke with his face to the ground. Whether already in mourning or too ashamed to be the one to bring it up – I couldn't tell.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.

"Yeah," I added, "haven't you been saying that he's talking about things that aren't there?"

"He seems to be lucid…" Rick trailed off.

In the silence, Dale began to speak. "Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants and I think we have an answer."

As the group began to discuss the morality of leaving a man behind, I snuck into the RV to check for myself. I'd already left one man behind and I couldn't risk abandoning another.

"Hey Jim" I said softly as I entered the RV. He seemed small in the bed. Almost childlike. He was clammy and his lips were cracked from dehydration. A bucket sat next to him for when he felt nauseous and his breathing was laboured.

"Hey."

I sat next to the bed and looked at the sick man before me. That wasn't any way to live. "Are you sure you want this?"

Jim began violently coughing and I reached for the nearest water bottle for him so he could soothe his aching throat. His arms were too heavy to lift so I gently guided the water into his mouth. He didn't need to answer. I could see the desperation in his eyes. He wanted to go. He wanted to be with his family. I nodded in understanding before leaving the caravan. Everyone's eyes turn to me as I re-joined them. I nodded once more and Shane and Rick went to get Jim.

They leant him against a shaded tree and one by one everyone went up to say goodbye. When it was my turn I was completely lost for words. Everyone except Daryl had said their piece.

"Thank you for everything." I managed to choke out. I walked up to him and kissed his cheek, my tears spilling onto his face. I brushed my cheek against my top to clean myself up before turning back to Daryl and walking to the truck.

The rest of the journey was in an understanding silence.

I watched as the Georgia countryside turned into the concrete jungle of Atlanta. All the cars parked up a few yards from the CDC building. The first thing we all noticed was the smell. Immediately after stepping out of the truck I ran a few paces and threw up nothing but bile and water. I hadn't eaten in so long, it burned coming up my throat – almost distracting me from the stench. Bodies were piled up on sidewalks. The faint groan of walkers gradually grew louder as we all began to move faster toward the CDC. As I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand Daryl walked towards me.

"Stay close," he ordered. His eyes were scanning all around me as he spoke and waited until I had walked in front of him before continuing on the path to the doors. We all began to raise our weapons as the groans grew louder. A handful of walkers were in our sight and ever approaching.

Rick and Shane tried to open the shutters to no effect. The building appeared to be on some sort of lock down. Panic began to rise. Walkers could hear the commotion and the handful had turned into a collection which was progressing into a crowd of walkers, all heading our way.

"There's nobody here." T said.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick countered.

Daryl was the first to raise the alarm. "Walkers!"

Lori pleaded with her husband to leave as Shane was suggesting. Daryl took down a walker in an army uniform. As soon as one went down it was like two appeared in its place. "You lead us into a graveyard!" Dixon's fear was manifesting as aggression.

"He made a call." Dale tried to explain but Daryl wasn't listening.

"It was the wrong damn call."

Everyone began to speak over one another in the hysteria. Shane was talking Rick into leaving, Rick was determined to get us in, Lori and Carol were desperate to keep their children safe and Daryl was shouting warnings as walkers approached.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up! Rick this is a dead end."

"Where we gonna go?"

"Do you hear me? No blame."

"She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark."

"Fort Benning, Rick—still an option."

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's a hundred miles."

"125. I checked the map."

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight. Now."

"We'll think of something."

"Let's get out of here."

"Let's go. Please"

Rick was ignoring everyone's pleas so Shane began to take charge.

"All right, everybody back to the cars. Let's go. Move." Shane dragged Rick backwards as he told everyone to retreat.

"The camera—it moved."

"You imagined it." I said.

"It moved." Rick barked back

Shane took Rick by the shoulders and looked him square in the eye. "Rick, it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on." Rick just stood still in denial so Shane continued, "man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick. Rick, there's nobody there."

Rick broke free of Shane's firm grasp and banged on the shutters. The group begged him not to for fear of attracting a head but the sheriff persisted. "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me."

"Everybody get back to the cars now!" Shane said as he grabbed Rick once more.

Daryl's arm went around my waist with his free hand, pulling be back towards the truck. I could feel the callouses on his fingertips through the fabric of my shirt.

"Raise your gun, get ready. Now." I blindly followed Daryl's instructions as we went towards the cars. Ricks cries increased as Shane pulled him away:

"Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left. We have nowhere else to go. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! You're killing us! Your killing us! Your killing us!"

Everyone had given up and began running towards the cars when a blinding light shone from behind. We spun around to see the CDC doors wide open.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear any comments or ideas you guys have.

-QwertyWords


	11. Chapter 11

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

All of us stood there stunned for a second, unsure of how to proceed.

"I'll cover the back!" Daryl shouted as Rick walked inside, gun raised. We hesitantly followed behind as Daryl brought up the rear.

"Hello…" Rick said unsure of who or what we were dealing with. From the shadows emerged a man in his mid-thirties at least, his gun aimed at us.

"Anybody infected?" The mystery man's voice echoed around the empty room.

"One of our group was, he didn't make it." Rick panted out his supplies. All of us were practically shaking with desperation and adrenaline.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" He stepped towards us, looking at each group member individually. I could have sworn I saw Daryl and Shane puff out their chests as they were sized up.

"A chance…" The silence was heavy as both parties began to lower their weapons.

"That's asking an awful lot these days" The man stepped towards us once again and into the light.

"I know."

There was nothing more any of us could add. Carl clung to Lori tighter and Sophia's lip began to tremble.

"You all submit to a blood test - that's the price of admission."

"We can do that."

"You got stuff to bring in then you do it now. Once this door closes it stays closed." Daryl, Glenn, Shane and I ran towards the vehicles, grabbing every bag we saw as Rick talked to our saviour. The four of us re-entered the building and the doors shut behind us. We all entered a lift just around the corner from the entrance and Dr Jenner introduced himself.

"Doctors always go around packin' heat like that?" Daryl questioned.

"There were plenty left lying around so I familiarised myself. But you all look harmless enough," his focus turned to Carl, "except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you." The joke fell flat as we descended further into the CDC.

Jenner guided us through the halls as we took it all in. At least a dozen doors lined each hallway, and everything was painted white. It all looked exceptionally clinical but was far emptier than I had imagined it being. Fluorescent lights kept the area well-lit as we entered a large circular room. I tuned back into the conversation when a robotic monotone voice on a speaker echoed around the room.

"Hello guests. Welcome."

"I'm all that's left… I'm sorry." Everyone's faces dropped upon hearing our hosts apology.

Jenner lead us through another set of doors and hallways until we reached a room equipped with everything he needed to take blood samples. I held back as everyone else went. I had never been too keen on needles and I needed time to psych myself up.

I turned away as the needle entered my arm. Once the ordeal was over I stood up too quickly to leave the room and swayed on my feet. Daryl, who was getting tested after me, held my elbows to steady me and mumbled something about having not eaten in days to Jenner.

After receiving the all clear from Jenner, he led us towards the kitchen and proceeded to pull all kinds of dried food from the cupboards. Whiskey and wine were distributed amongst the adults with our meal. I could feel the Southern Comfort going to my head rather quickly. We ate and laughed, and we almost looked like an unconventional family sitting for a normal meal. We all laughed as Carl spat out his first taste of wine and toasted out host with a 'booyah' as suggested by Daryl.

"So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?" Shane's voice instantly caused silence to fall upon the table. Jenner didn't respond so Shane elaborated, "all the other doctors that are supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

Daryl sat beside me and whispered so only I could here. "Figures he'd be a pain in the ass drunk." I stifled my giggle as Rick and Shane disagreed over the dinner table.

Jenner swallowed the last of his wine and spoke up. "Well when things got bad a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." His eyes seems to glaze over as if remembering his former colleagues.

"Every last one?" Shane responded.

"No." The emotion had drained from Jenner's voice as he continued, "many couldn't face walking out the door. The… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

Andreas softer voice enquired further. "You didn't leave. Why?"

"I just kept working. Hoping. To do some good."

Glenn's false sense of confidence thanks to a few glasses of wine lead him to call Shane out. "Dude… you are such a buzzkill man."

Shane looked down and bit his lip in frustration. We continued to drink and eat in an awkward silence as we all finished. Jenner guided us out of the room and towards a series of break rooms with couches in.

"Most of the facilities powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. Couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you'd like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. Same applies – if you shower go easy on the hot water." Jenner continued walking down the hall and around the corner leaving our group.

"Hot water?" I double checked, unable to believe my ears.

"That's what the man said." T smiled back at me.

I dumped my stuff in a room at the end of the hall and beelined straight towards the showers. We had landed on our feet. The water cascaded through my hair and down my body. I stood there for two minutes just enjoying the warmth of the water against my skin before washing my hair and body. I felt 20 pounds lighter with all the dirt and grime washed off of me. In a set of drawers, I found some cotton sweat pants and a baggy green top. I threw them on over some clean underwear from my bag and began to braid my damp hair. When all of my hair was off my face I scouted out the room I had chosen, taking everything I though could be useful and throwing it into my bag. As I did, I continued to take sips from my whiskey until I had finished the bottle unknowingly. I completed my sweep of the room and decided to organise my bag tomorrow when I had a clearer head. I heard a few voices coming from the rec room and turned the corner out of my room to go join them. I immediately walked straight into someone's chest and stumbled back into the wall, laughing to myself.

"Guess my tolerance has gone down quite a bit." I chuckled and looked up at who I had crashed into. His blue eyes stared back at me. I continued to giggle uncontrollably like a school girl getting drunk of wine coolers for the first time.

"Well ain't you a happy one." He began to smile at my laughing as though it were contagious. "Watch where you're goin' Nikki," he said to me as I stumbled towards the rec room, blushing. The voices had gotten louder and it sounded like Shane and Lori. His voice was loud and panicked. With every step closer I could hear tensions rising. Lori sounded scared too and her cries grew louder. Before I reached the foor Shane came storming out and into me causing us both to stumble.

"What did you do?" My voice was loud and demanding. Before even giving him time to respond I asked again. "What did you do to her Shane? Did you hurt her?" He stuttered out the word 'no' but somehow it didn't come across as believable.

My alcohol induced confidence grew and I took a step closer and poked an accusing finger into his chest. "You best not have upset her. How about I go get Rick right now to straighten this whole thing out?"

His eyes grew wide like an animal in a trap. I turned my back to him ready to find Rick and Shane's hand locked around my wrist and pulled me back hard. I yelped at the unexpected pain and before I could make another sound his other hand gripped around my throat and held me to the wall. Instinctually I began to scratch his hand, trying to get him to loosen his grip but it remained tight. He lent towards me and I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Ain't got nothin' to say 'cause nothin' happened. None of your damn business. Got it?" My nails dug deeper into his hand as I began to see stars in the corner of my vision.

"Shane…" I choked out. My scratches grew weaker and as if suddenly realising what he was doing, he released my throat and stepped away as I crumbled to the floor, gasping for air.

"Nicole I…" His now bleeding hand went to the side of his head as he stood their lost for words. "I…" Without finishing his though he began stumbling down the hallway and out of sight. I walked, half leaning again the wall, back to my room. I held back the tears until I shut the door behind me and fell to the ground once more, still coughing.

"What the…" Daryl emerged from the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. As soon as I saw him, I rubbed my arm across my face to remove all evidence of tears.

"Too much alcohol." I said vaguely. My voice was horse from the pressure Shane used and I coughed a few more times until I could speak properly again. "I just need to sleep it off."

I didn't want to tell Daryl what had happened until I had time to process it myself. What good was starting a fight now. And I wanted to be the one to confront Shane tomorrow.

He nodded and began to walk back to the bathroom until I stood up and my braid fell from over my shoulder to against my back. In a matter of seconds Daryl was by my side and pushing my chin up to get a better look of my neck. I guess it had already started to bruise.

"What the hell happened?" Daryl barked at me, clearly, he got a little more aggressive when he was drunk.

"It's nothing…" I dismissed and refocused the conversation, "what are you doing in my room Dixon?"

His eyes didn't leave my neck and I lowered my chin to try and cover the marks.

"Didn't know you was here. All the other rooms are taken so I just thought-"

"You take one couch, I'll take the other." I reasoned, cutting him off.

I fell onto the seat beside me and let my exhaustion carry me into a dreamless sleep.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	12. Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

When I woke up, a blanket had been draped over me to keep me warm and my head was resting on a pillow I don't recall getting for myself. The second I sat up my hangover became apparent. My brain felt like it was swimming in my head and the lights were too bright. I groaned and swivelled so my feet were on the floor. I very slowly and very quietly shuffled to the bathroom and showered to try and wash away my aches. The water made me feel a little more alert and a little more human. Wrapped in a towel, I left the bathroom to find some clean clothes in my bag. I grabbed a pair of denim shorts and the highest necked top I could find. My only clean bra left was a lacy red material with a matching thong. It wasn't the most practical but since we'd be here a while I decided it was worth it while I did laundry today.

A cough from behind me made my jump. I dropped all my clothes as I spun around and my towel slipped. I turned as red as my underwear, stood naked in front of Daryl. His eyes didn't know where to look. He settled for the celling as my underwear was on the floor and I was frozen in shock.

"We're um… All in the kitchen…" He trailed off, shutting the door behind him as he left. I stood still for another few seconds, utterly mortified that he saw me naked. Quickly I changed, taking a look at the bruises forming around my wrist and neck as I left the room. They were certainly noticeable, so I threw on a hoodie to try and hide the marks.

All the rooms along the hallway were empty as I walked towards the kitchen. Everyone must have woken up long before me. I sat next to Glenn who looked about as bad as I felt. Jacqui handed me some aspirin as T filled my plate with eggs and bacon. The thought of food repulsed me so I pushed it away, settling for water an a painkiller to soothe my head. Shane entered seconds after me and headed straight for the coffee. My back stiffened as Rick greeter his friend. The hairs on my arms stood on end and I started looking subtly around the room for exits.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked. Along with the scratches on his hand there were three deep scratches on his face, not from me.

"Must have done it in my sleep." His voice was gruff and he sat at the table beside Andrea.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick replied.

"Me neither… not like me at all." Shane's eye contact with Lori was brief but I noticed it.

"Hey Doc." Jenner walked in to a chorus of greetings before Dale said what we were all thinking.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing but-"

"But you will anyway." Jenner countered.

Andrea continued on from Dale, "we didn't come here for the eggs."

Jenner nodded towards the door signalling for everyone to follow him. I took my bottle of water with me and pocketed a few more aspirins for my headache throughout the day. Shane tapped my shoulder as we walked out and I jumped away from him, out of arm's reach. "Don't touch me." I growled out in the most menacing voice I could. Daryl walked out of the kitchen and clearly saw the combination of fear and rage on my face. I stopped addressing Shane and told Daryl I was going to the room to organise my things.

Everyone followed Jenner to the control room as I turned towards the rec room. I selected and handful of books I wanted to read and went back to my room. I figured we'd be moving rooms soon to something more permanent with cots instead of couches. I took stock of everything I had and repacked my bag, ready for when we moved to our new quarters. I wanted to be ready to claim a good room. A room as far away from Walsh as I could. When all my things were in order I untied my hair and left it down and curled from the braid. As I walked towards the rest of the group, lights began to flicker down the hall. I could hear whirring overhead and then the breeze from the AC units around me turned off. I hastened my pace, eager to join others.

Jenner was addressing the group when I entered.

"Vi, power down the main screen and the work stations."

All the screens turned off in the room. I walked towards Lori and Carl, as far away from Shane as I could get.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea questioned.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal…"

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui interjected.

"Somebody must know something?" I questioned. Shane couldn't meet my eyes as I spoke.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol's voice was hopeful.

"There maybe some. People like me…" Jenner's voice was that of a broken man. He sounded utterly defeated.

"But you don't know? How could you not know?" Rick countered.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives, all of it…" He sighed deeply, "I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here?" Andrea was staring off into space as she spoke. "There's nothing left anywhere… Nothing? That's what you're really saying right?"

"Jesus…" I exhaled.

"Man I'm gonna' get shit faced drunk. Again" Daryl exclaimed while rubbing his face.

"Doctor Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question but, that clock." Everyone in the room turned to face the digital clock Dale was referring to. "It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

There was an hour left on the clock, each second ticked by as we watched.

"The basement generators. They run out of fuel." Jenner stalked out of the room leaving us all stunned.

Rick enquired further only to be ignored by the doctor. "And then?" Silence ensued as Jenner rounded a corner without us. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

The monotone voice responded, 'when the power runs out, facility wide decontamination will occur.'

Rick started barking orders for everyone to gather their belongings and called Shane, Glenn and T-Dog to follow him in a search for Jenner.

Decontamination didn't sound hopeful to me so I followed commands to fetch our things. As mine were all packed I gathered Glenn's and T's belongings for them and scoured their shared room for anything else useful. A few spare clothes and some toothpaste later, I exited the boy's room to head back to main hub. I didn't even consider helping Shane with his things for a second.

Daryl was pacing around and biting his thumb nail. Jacqui hadn't moved from the last time I saw her. Andrea stood beside her bag looking empty inside. As I moved to speak to my friend an announcement of 'emergency lighting on' blared through the room. Lights began to flicker more and the aircon in the circular room stopped just as it had in the hallway. Lori, Carol and the kids joined us just as the lights died. Everyone was in together again in the control room, everyone equally as panicked as each other.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick questioned.

"The system is dropping all the non-essential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running until the last possible second. That started as we approached the half hour mark, right on schedule."

None of us knew quite what to say. Jenner handed a bottle of whiskey to Daryl who snatched it out of the scientist's hand.

"It was the French." Jenner spoke with his back to us. "They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"Same thing that's happening here. No power grids. Ran out of juice." He turned to face us all as he continued, "the world runs on fossil fuels. I mean – how stupid is that?"

Shane swung for Jenner as Rick pulled him back.

"Lori, everyone, get your things, we're getting outta' here now." Everyone ran towards the hallway where bags had been left earlier as a blaring alarm started to go off.

Jenner ignored our confused cries and walked towards a computer. He swiped his ID and the doors shut in front of us.

"He just locked us in!" Glenn screamed. Daryl jumped towards Jenner as Rick called for Shane to protect Jenner. T-Dog joined in pulling Daryl off of the doctor.

"Open the damn doors!" I yelled, despite my aching vocal chords.

"That's not something I control, the computers do. I told you, once that front door closed it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." I choked back my tears and paced around, attempting to divert my nervous energy.

We all listened to Jenner yelling. We all listened to Vi telling us about HITs. We all stood in a momentary silence. The air was going to burn, and we would too.

I sat with Sophia and Carl as they cried, mumbling soothing words to them as everyone else screamed in a useless panic. "Somewhere over the rainbow… Way up high… And the dreams that you dream of, once in a lullaby…" I trailed off softly, unaware I was singing until Sophia hummed along with me through her tears.

The sound of a shotgun being coked pulled me from my trance. Shane walked briskly towards Jenner and I stood up ready to push him back. Daryl pulled me out of Shane's war path.

"Hey!" I bit back.

"He's losing it," Daryl responded. He stood in front of me, keeping a firm but not uncomfortable grip on my arm.

Rick attempted to talk Shane off the ledge to little effect. Shane began shooting the computer screens and celling until Rick had him pinned on the floor.

"You done now?" Rick asked.

"I guess we all are." Shane replied.

Only the groups heavy breathing could be heard. I shook my arm out of Daryl's grasp but remained by his side.

"Please let us keep trying as long as we can…" Lori spoke for us all.

Jenner walked towards an un-shot desk and swiped his card. The doors opened and Daryl dragged me through the doors before I even had a chance to comprehend what was happening. I stumbled along beside him, trying to keep up. As we reached the main entrance I noticed it was light out.

"Nikki!" T- Dog threw an axe towards me and I caught it, heading straight for the nearest window. No matter how hard I swung, I wasn't even making a dent. Each hit had my fully body weight behind it to no effect.

"Get down!" Shane screamed, moments before trying the shotgun against the glass. It had a much larger effect than the axes but still didn't fracture the glass.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol ran towards the sheriff, ignoring Shane's comments, as she rummaged through her bag. She handed him a small object.

"Get down!" Rick ordered. I ran and dropped below the stairs.

"Was that a…?"

The huge explosion answered my question. A grenade. Glass shattered from the window and we all barrelled towards the cars. With the axe in one hand and my bag in the other I ran straight for Daryl's truck. He was beside me as I moved. He took out walkers on the left and I took them out on the right. I threw my bag in the back and spun around to check on the others. Everyone except Jacqui, Dale and Andrea was accounted for. I began to panic until Dale and Andrea emerged from the CDC. Walkers had swarmed around the building and they were both unarmed. Without thinking I ran towards them, ignoring Rick and Daryl's demands for me to stay away.

I began clearing a path through the corpses for the two of them as the RV horn blared.

"Get down!" Everyone screamed at us.

A walker approached on my left and as I swung to kill, Dale and Andrea dived behind a pile of sand bags. I could feel the heat increasing as I pulled with all my force to remove the weapon from the geek's head. I placed my left arm down on the pile of sandbags to brace myself as I vaulted over them to shelter. The heat intensified to an unbearable level specifically on the arm I used to jump. I let out an involuntary scream and cradles my injured arm against my chest. The skin on my left forearm was raw. It throbbed and I could feel heat radiating off my skin. Dale pulled me up by my good side and passed me over to Daryl who dragged me a little less gently to his truck.

"Stupid bitch. Coulda' died pullin' that shit. The hell were you thinking?"

"Hey – you best mind your tongue Daryl. I did that to save our friends."

He merely grumbled in response.

I sat on the passenger side, still cradling my injured arm as we drove from the city. A fire that large and an explosion that loud would be drawing walkers for miles and it wasn't safe.

The pain intensified in my arm and I took two of the aspirins I had kept earlier that day in an attempt to ease my discomfort. A mere 3 miles down the road the RV pulled over, followed by all the other vehicles.

Rick emerged from the RV with a speech on his lips, "we gotta' play it smart here. Travel light and effectively. Fort Benning is the next logical place to go and it's a hell of a trip. Only so much gas to go around so we should ditch a car and split the gas from that one."

Daryl stepped forward. "I'll take Merle's bike. Take the gas from my truck."

As everyone set about making preparations for the journey ahead I poured some of my water over my arm. The burn was about five inches long from my elbow towards my wrist. The cool water stung against the heat of my raw, crisp skin. I hissed in pain, drawing Daryl's attention. He looked over towards me then his vision dropped to my arm.

The hunter abandoned what he was doing and walked over to me, bag in arm. He dropped his bag to the ground and riffled through it at my feet before pulling out a plain white t-shirt. "Was Merle's." was the only explanation he gave me. He grabbed the hunting knife attached to his belt and but a strip from the fabric. Daryl gently held my hand and turned my arm to better face him. He carefully began to wrap the fabric over my tender skin. As he reached the end I could have sworn I felt his hand linger on mine before tying the make-do bandage to keep it in place.

I swallowed the lump in my throat I didn't realise I had before he spoke. His tone was far kinder than when he was reprimanding me. "You ridin' with me?" His chin was angled down but his eyes looked into mine, through his slightly scruffy fringe. I found myself incapable of words and simply nodded my agreement. He smiled slightly before walking away. I turned so my back was to the hunter while I composed myself only to see Glenn staring at me having clearly witnessed the whole interaction. He merely winked at me and chuckled as he walked away.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think.

-QwertyWords


	13. Chapter 13

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction. I do not own The Walking Dead.

Daryl and I stored our belongings in the RV and drove on Merle's bike just ahead of the group, scouting out the road ahead. The first night on the road we barely slept. None of us had spent a night in such a vulnerable place before. Our little camp felt a lot safer than an abandoned highway. The second night wasn't much better.

We only travelled in daylight – it was too risky to move after the sun had set. We parked all our vehicles in a circle facing outwards each night and tried to pretend everything was ok. Everyone took turns on watch making sure we were never without a guard. Sleeping in the cars and RV had certainly taken some getting used to and privacy was a thing of the past. Each time we set up camp we'd scavenge the nearby cars and make a fire to keep us warm. There were never very many vehicles and none of them had anything too valuable in them. We mainly took clothes. Thicker jackets. Stronger boots. Un-ripped tops.

My arm had healed a fair amount in the five days we'd been on the road now leaving me with a large scab up my forearm. If I moved too suddenly it would crack and bleed meaning I couldn't help too much with any heavy lifting, so I tried to take watch as often as I could. It had taken us quite a while to get away from the city as all the main roads were jammed with abandoned cars and we were forced to take other routes.

Once again, we had come to another road block of abandoned cars on the interstate. The RV and cars drove slowly behind Daryl and me on the bike as we found a path through the chaos. The RV spluttered to a stop causing me to flinch and squeeze Daryl a little tighter. He chuckled under his breath at my reaction and turned off the engine. We gathered around Dale as he emerged from the RV.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem Dale?" Shane questioned.

"Oh just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…" Dale trailed up as he put our situation into context.

Daryl started searching through cars, gathering useful supplies. I worked beside him as we always did. It was an unspoken arrangement that we just kind of fell into.

"Can't find a radiator hose here." Shane sighed.

"A whole buncha' stuff we can find." Daryl said as he filled up his bag of scavenged items.

T- Dog agreed as he approached a neighbouring car, "siphon more fuel from these cars for a start."

"Maybe some water?" Carol questioned.

"Food?" Glenn added.

"This is a graveyard." Lori's face looked blank as she spoke.

"Nothin' more that what we've already been doin'." I countered, "just more cars than usual."

"I don't know how I feel about this."

I shrugged off her concern and buried my guilt. Daryl and I had made it through four cars before splitting up to cover more vehicles. I had uncovered a few granola bars, some clothes in my size, a few tools some batteries for flashlights. No medicine and no water which were the two main priorities for us at the moment as both supplies were running low. Most cars contained sentimental items like children's teddies and family photos. I picked up some clothes I thought the group could use and began folding them into a bag to carry back.

"Get down!" Rick ordered as he dragged Carl under a car and Lori did the same to Carol. Just ahead of them a huge group of walkers were heading our way, their groans growing louder. I turned to face the area T and Daryl were searching so I could warn them.

"Daryl! T!" I whispered as loudly as I could to get their attention and nodded towards the upcoming herd. T turned and yelled out in pain before slumping to the floor.

I ran towards the two of them, so we could try and find cover together. As I got closer T staggered towards me and fell into me. With his weight causing me to topple over I fell against a car causing a loud thud. My top felt damp and the coppery smell of blood filled the air.

"T what's…" I trailed off as he groaned in pain before Daryl appeared from around the corner and pulled T-Dog off of me. T's arm was bleeding severely, and my top was covered with the red sticky liquid. I started to hyperventilate as a walker approached, attracted by the smell of us. I reached for my axe on to find it not at my side. I was unarmed causing me to panic even more. The blood was warm against my skin and dripping from my clothes in a puddle around me. Daryl killed a walker approaching close by and threw it on top of T. I did the only thing I could think of and stripped off my top, leaving me in just my sports bra and jeans. I threw the bloody clothing as far to my side as I could, hoping to attract the walkers to the top rather than us. Daryl pulled me against his side and pulled a dead body from a car to cover us. My breathing hadn't calmed down at all so he put his hand against my mouth to quieten me.

The herd moved past us, only inches away from where we laid. I could feel my whole body trembling against my will. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on counting to 100 but the scraping feet of the groaning corpses made it hard to focus on anything else. Daryl's calloused hand loosened against my face as the footsteps got quieter. The he threw the corpse off of us and moved straight for T-Dog to put pressure on his wound. Together we lifted him up and took him back to the RV to try and patch him up as best we could.

"You might wanna… um…"

Daryl nodded to my exposed midriff as he spoke. I flushed realising what he meant and just nodded in response. After retrieving a clean tank top from my bag I excused myself to use the RV bathroom to wash off the dried blood that covered my body.

The reflection that stared back at me didn't look familiar. My muscles seemed a lot more defined. My stomach was flat with the faint outline of a six-pack beneath the skin. I loved the gym before this all started and enjoyed rock climbing on occasion, but I had never been this toned before. My cheekbones looked sharper and my hair flatter. My body was adjusting to being on the move.

I rubbed the dried blood off as much as I could, put on a clean pink tank top and tied my hair up and out of my face before re-joining the group.

Shane, Glenn, Daryl and Rick were nowhere to be seen when I emerged and Carol was crying against Lori's shoulder.

I looked questioningly at Dale.

"Sophia's gone."

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear any suggestions for the story or any opinions on how everything's unfolding. Thank you to all that have reviewed and followed so far!

-QwertyWords


End file.
